The Way You Make Me Feel, You Knock Me Off My Feet
by banananonana
Summary: The Social Network movie!verse, Sean/Eduardo. Futurefic.


**Title:** The Way You Make Me Feel, You Knock Me Off My Feet

**Fandom/Pairing**: The Social Network, Eduardo/Sean

**Word Count:** ~7,000

**Disclaimer:**: Don't own, not making any money, etc. Title to the late, great Michael Jackson.

**Summary**: Long before Mark and Wardo had a meeting with Sean Parker, Sean and Wardo had been in a relationship, which Wardo ended because he refused to date Sean while he was still using. So when Sean, who has cleaned up in rehab, gets the call about the meeting, he's excited to show Wardo how much he has changed. Except when Sean walks in, he sees Wardo doting on Mark and mistakenly assumes that Wardo has a thing for him. Then he proceeds to be a complete asshole out of anger and jealousy, which Wardo interprets as Sean being the same asshole he always was and not having changed at all. And then there are misunderstanings and angst and UST and make-up sex.

**Author's Notes**: I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS. Prompt was here at the kinkmeme.

It's Tuesday when he gets the phone call.

It's Tuesday, it's just Tuesday, it's just any other day, Sean scolds himself, willing his hands to stop shaking. He tries to bite back his grin but nobody's around so he lets himself feel it, giving in and meeting his own eyes in the rearview mirror, scrunching them up and smiling wide. "Set it up," Sean says, phone pressed tight against his ear, fingers clenching hard around it. He hangs up the phone but can't quite wipe the smile from his face, whistling a little as he drives through town, immensely pleased at himself for the way he'd managed to make things come together.

It was like fate, really.

Kismet.

And it was only a week ago that Sean woke up in Amy's dorm after a long night of helping her review for her French exam to check his email and saw .

A Mark Zuckerberg production.

But more importantly, _Eduardo Saverin. Co-founder and CFO._

He thinks about how he must have looked, mouth agape, face devoid of all color. _Are you okay?_ Amy had asked him, concerned, coming out of the bathroom and rubbing a towel through her hair. _You look like you just saw a ghost._ Which, Sean supposes, he kind of did.

_Fine,_ he'd managed to choke out, voice hoarse, mind racing a mile a minute. Oh, god. This- life doesn't always hand you things like this, second chances that just walk into your life for no reason at all-_can I borrow some paper? And a pen?_

Mark Zuckerberg, thefacebook, he hadn't quite known what he was going to do with the information. Harvard. Gosh, Eduardo went to Harvard. That was- wow, really something; he'd always talked about it and Sean had been too into himself to support him, scoffing from the sidelines, so annoyed that Eduardo was actually planning on going places that he tried to shoot him down every chance he'd got, but still.

Eduardo had still made it, to Harvard.

President of the Investor's Association when he was only a sophomore.

$300,000 in one summer.

Betting _oil futures,_ and gosh, why did the thought of that make Sean stupidly hot under the collar? Eduardo taking risks, using his talents for personal gain, displaying how smart he was; every time Sean thought about it it wiggled under his skin and crawled around, left his face flushed and pulse erratic.

And thefacebook.

That was- something, really, it was something Sean would have wanted in on even if it wasn't an opportunity to show Eduardo how _different_ everything was now, thefacebook was good, it was going to be good, and Sean wanted a meeting, like, yesterday.

He wasn't sure how he'd planned on getting in touch with Mark, and he didn't dare try to contact Eduardo directly. Besides, he was pretty sure Eduardo'd changed his number since knowing Sean, but the chance fell into his lap anyway. He'd gotten a call the next week from the daughter of a friend of his parents that he'd known when he was in high school, would he be interested in meeting with a start-up internet company, and gosh, _would he ever._

Finally, things were going Sean's way, he thought, accelerating a little in Amy's car, slipping his sunglasses down onto his nose. He was finally cashing in on all of the good karma he'd clocked in during his time in rehab; all of his effort was finally paying off. And it felt damn good, to know that he was going to New York in three weeks to meet with Mark and Eduardo, to talk 'business' but really just to see Eduardo again, and _show him_, how much Sean had changed, all that he'd done to be the kind of man that Eduardo deserved, that Eduardo should have by his side.

It was- god, it was a little frightening, the gay side of Sean already panicking on what he would possibly wear, and the rest of him biting his internal lip at the thought of Eduardo having moved on, deciding to forget Sean- that part, that's terrifying.

But underneath it all, Sean's excited, and when he gets Christy on the phone again a week before his flight to JFK, he can't resist asking, "So... how are the guys? Mark, Eduardo?"

"Good," Christy says, not even questioning, Sean's tone is so deliberately casual even though he can feel a sweat break out on the back of his neck, "They're good. Typical college boys," she said flippantly, and Sean's heart pounded. "Immature. I tried to make a move on Eduardo, and he totally blew me off, and I was just like, 'hello, have you _seen_ me?'" she scoffs, "As if he could do any better-" and Sean stops listening, eyes going wide and letting his grin stretch from ear-to-ear, leaning back against the couch and pretending to listen to Christy babble about sorority parties and final clubs while Sean daydreamed with that goofy grin on his face, throwing his forearm over his eyes and blushing, because, god, what is he, twelve?

But still.

Still.

He can't help but be excited.

Sean makes sure he's early, like, ridiculously early. He flies into New York two whole days before the meeting just in case, shops around for something to wear even though he's packed pretty much all of the clothes he owns, and he spends a solid six hours in his hotel room shrugging on shirt after shirt, and staring at his own ass in the full-length mirror, and flexing his arms and sucking in his stomach and making faces at himself and yanking at his hair and poking at his skin before he finally realizes that he is, in fact, almost ridiculously good-looking.

That, out of everything, hasn't changed.

He hopes- it's shallow, but if nothing else, at least Eduardo will still be attracted to him.

Sean stares at himself in the mirror, alone and shirtless in his hotel room, and allows for that moment for his mask to drop, the cockyconfident facade to fall and worried, little-boy Sean to take over, his mouth slanting down at the expression of uncertainty splashed across his face.

Sean looks at his body and then leans in to look at his face, _really_ look at it. The line of his jaw, the blonde eyelashes, and he scrunches up his nose, and when he backs off from the mirror he doesn't see the Sean he is now, but for a second the old Sean's reflection flashes in front of him, gaunt face and too-sharp cheekbones and sunken in, manic eyes, and predatory grin, and Sean almost jumps back, he is so terrified for a moment.

It's- he still has nightmares, sometimes, is all, thinking about it, how quickly everything in his life had turned to shit, how he was just a fucking kid who let himself be ruined, how he missed out on the best years of his life, and college, and Eduardo, by his side.

Sean stares into the mirror, hypnotized, unable to look away as it all flashes before him. His father leaving. His mother, out all the time. Guy. After guy. After guy. At his house. Calling him obnoxious things like 'sport,' and 'champ,' and _I'm in tenth grade, you fucking asshole, I'm not six,_ and finally hauling off and punching one of them, and his mom screaming, and drinking to get through the days, fucking being drunk in Geometry and sent to the principal's office, and the drugs, the drugs, the drugs, and the awful look in Eduardo's eyes when he'd whispered, brokenly, _I can't do this anymore._

And Sean is helpless to the memory as it swims back into too-clear focus, his eyes falling closed, swallowing hard. He leans against the wall, and remembers- he still remembers.

"_You said you'd stop," Eduardo had said, voice shaking, the hand that was holding the baggie of cocaine trembling accusingly, "You promised," and how Sean had laughed meanly and snatched it from him and cut a line right there and snorted it up, deliberately, Eduardo's eyes shocked and hurt and unable to look away, watching him like the real-life, human train wreck that he was._

"_And you believed me?" Sean asked, wiping his nose, head swimming pleasantly, sitting down in the arm chair in the corner of the room and folding his arms behind his head, grinning easily over at Eduardo, who was looking at Sean like he'd never seen him before. "So, is this it?" Sean asked, squinting, his vision starting to blur around the edges, Eduardo looking almost like he was glowing as he crossed the room._

"_You promised me you were done," Eduardo said again, voice low and hoarse, "And now I'm promising you, I'm done."_

"_But you actually mean yours," Sean said, unable to fight his grin, snorting. "Right."_

"_I do mean it," Eduardo said, and he actually sounded serious, and Sean cracked one eye open to gaze up at him._

"_Please," Sean said, "You'd be lost without me."_

_Eduardo shook his head, eyes shiny, "No," he whispered brokenly, "I can't do this anymore, Sean, I just can't- watch you do this to yourself, I-" his breath caught._

"_Love me?" Sean asked, mocking just a little bit, pressing his palms hard into his thighs to stop his hands from shaking as the high took over. _

"_I do," Eduardo says immediately, and his eyes spill over then, Sean can just make that out, "I do- I did, but you- you have to choose, me or- or-"_

"_The drugs," Sean supplied, slurring a little bit, "It's going to be the drugs."_

_Eduardo gasped a little, but then nodded firmly, like he'd known that would be what Sean would choose all along. "Okay," he breathed, "I can't be with you when you're like this," he said, looking very much like it was tearing him into pieces to have to say it. "I'm sorry."_

_Sean laughed again, long and loud, and was unable to stop himself. He stood up, the lazy feeling in his bones replaced with a need to run around the house and scream, and his breathing quickened. "Whatever. Go, if you're going," Sean said, making his way across the room to the liquor cabinet and pouring himself a drink, a Scotch neat, the least complicated thing to make when he was fucked up and a personal favorite._

_Eduardo had watched him for a moment, breathing shallow and broken before he turned and left, and Sean stared hard at his retreating back, and it was the last thing he saw before his vision went black._

As fucked up as he was, he still remembers that.

He remembers long summer nights with Eduardo, when they were both just a little drunk and they would stay up and talk with their foreheads pressed together in Eduardo's little twin bed, or when they would lay with their sides touching and stare at the stars and trade soft kisses, but he also remembers screaming fights, and Eduardo begging him to change, and waking up with no memories at all, and Eduardo crying, and feeling like they'd both had knives stabbed into their chests-

And Sean remembers swallowing his pride and getting on a plane to Utah, he remembers months of forcing himself to open up and talk about how he'd ruined it all, everything, the best thing to ever happen to him, and coming back home to find everyone had moved on, including his mother, married again with a new baby on the way, and how alone he'd felt, and how determined he'd been-

After everything, Sean feels great, now. Incredible. He has steady investments, notoriety around Silicone Valley for the business expertise that always seemed to be inherent, and he's healthy, and happy, for the most part. He gets by. He's three years clean and sober and it feels so fucking good to be able to say that, to go to bed early and wake up the next morning and know with absolute certainty and comfort where he is and how he got there.

But he carries the hole where Eduardo'd been with him everywhere he goes, and Sean is nothing if not persistent. He set his sights on bettering himself, and worked his ass off until he achieved it, like everything else he _wants,_ and he is going to have Eduardo back in his life.

Eduardo is going to be- fuck, he is going to be so proud of Sean, when he sees him, when he sees how different things are, how much Sean has fucking changed and grown. He is going to give Sean that beaming, beautiful smile, with his eyes crinkled up and the laugh lines etching into his work-of-art face, and he is going to say, _I've missed you,_ and Sean has thought about this so many times that it feels like the world is ending, now that it is finally happening.

He didn't think he'd ever get this chance again.

He didn't think he was deserving of a second chance.

But somebody out there did, and now he has it.

And if Sean knows anything at all, it's how to not make the same mistakes again.

He gets dressed in the very first outfit he'd picked out and spins around in front of the mirror, nodding. He looks good. He's pleased, and he feels it all throughout his body, from the inside, out.

He leaves for 66 an hour before Eduardo and Mark are supposed to meet him there. Sean has the hotel call him a cab, and tugs at his own hair the entire ride across town. There are a million variables to this, really, a zillion and one things that could possibly go wrong, and Sean is trying to plan for all of them, but he still feels like he's forgetting something, everywhere he goes that day.

This was never his strong suit, the planning, the careful deliberation, the equations and the variables- that was always what Eduardo had been good at, the numerics of everything, the logic of it all. Eduardo had always been the analytical left brain to Sean's right, and he'd had to relearn a lot after Eduardo had left, had to figure out how to do certain things the way Eduardo would have.

It is like- Eduardo and Mark are late, and it makes Sean reach for his inhaler and stare at his watch and shake his leg underneath the table, restless, the bottom of his stomach dropping out. He thinks about being stood up, and his heart pounds. The waitress comes by six times to offer him a fucking drink, and the longer he waits, the more tempting it sounds, but then finally, fucking _finally,_ Sean sees a mop of curly blonde hair in an out-of-place hoodie and cargo shorts stomp into view, and Sean waves him over.

Eduardo's not with him.

"Hey," Sean says, standing up, trying to keep his face neutral. He sticks out his hand, "Sean Parker," and Mark shakes it, nodding, looking nervous. He stares up at Sean like Sean has all the answers. "I thought," Sean starts, mouth dry, "Weren't we- um, we're waiting for one more, right?" and Sean internally rolls his eyes at himself; his stupid voice is about an octave higher than it usually is.

Mark shrugs. "He's checking his coat," he says, and Sean feels relief wash over him like an ocean. Eduardo is- he's here, in the building, in the lobby, probably, checking his fucking coat! He's here. He's here. He's- Sean is moments away from seeing Eduardo again, his face, and the memory of the last time Sean saw Eduardo swims up, briefly, sour, but Sean just swallows it down and chases it with a sip of his water.

"Okay," Sean manages to croak, clearing his throat, and Mark shoves his hands in his hoodie pocket and slumps down in his chair, staring at Sean. "So-" Sean tries, but then, in his peripheral vision, he sees Eduardo's long, lean body, older and better and still so fucking perfect draped in a suit fucking made for him, rounding the corner and coming to the table. Sean drinks him in, washes his eyes over every inch of his body like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver, and he stares at Eduardo's face for what seems like an eternity.

To say that Eduardo looks good would be- fuck, a gross understatement, like to say that Niagara Falls is nothing more than a leaky faucet or that the Sistine Chapel is a mediocre work of art, and Sean feels all of his words leave him, struck dumb. The corners of Eduardo's mouth are turned up when he sticks out his hand expectantly, and Sean stands up to shake it, skin jolting at the contact, little sparks tripping up and down Sean's arm.

"Sean," Eduardo says, nodding, tugging his hand out of Sean's reluctant-to-let-go grip and sitting down next to Mark, cheeks pink.

"Wardo," Sean breathes, and at the twin sharp looks Mark and Eduardo give him, he coughs, "Eduardo. Hi. It's been- a long time."

"Four years," Eduardo says, nodding, and Mark swivels his head to the side to glare at Eduardo, who doesn't pay him any attention at all, picking up the menu and pursing his lips, eyes scanning down the page.

The waitress comes back to the table again, and says, "Can I get you gentlemen anything from the bar?"

Mark looks right at Sean, and he says, apologetically, "I don't drink, but if you guys want something, go right ahead-" and Mark opens his mouth, but Eduardo's head snaps up, and his eyes blaze when he says to Sean, incredulous,

"You don't drink? Since when?"

Sean sort of half-shrugs, embarrassed, but pleased. Perfect window of opportunity. Show him how much Sean's changed. "Three years clean and sober," he says, slipping one hand in his pocket and debating whipping out the sobriety chip that he'd brought along specifically for the wow-factor. But it is before the appetizers, and the waitress is still standing there, and it might be just a little bit tacky to bring it out this early on in the night. The surprised and pleased look on Eduardo's face is enough for now, and he and Sean just sort of stare at each other in wonderment for a long moment before Mark coughs.

"I think we're good," he says, dismissing the waitress, and Sean can see him kick Eduardo under the table, who flushes and looks down at the menu again. Every few seconds, his eyes dart up to sneak looks at Sean, and yes, okay, this is going almost disgustingly perfect.

"Do you guys want appetizers?" he asks, trying to break the silence, "No shellfish, right Wardo?" he asks, risking a little wink in his direction, "I remember."

Eduardo's face is beet red, but he just nods, and says, "Nothing with peanuts, either," and Sean frowns, because he thinks he would have remembered Eduardo mentioning- "Mark's allergic," he says quietly, and Sean's frown deepens. Mark shoots Eduardo a grateful look, lips quirking, and Eduardo smiles back at him.

Sean's brow furrows, watching them. Mark shifts his chair a little bit closer to Eduardo, and Eduardo drapes his arm casually across the back. "What're you having?" he asks Eduardo quietly, and Eduardo shrugs. "I think you'd like this," he says, pointing to something on Mark's menu, and Mark nods, closing his menu immediately, and folding his hands on top of it. Eduardo's humming to himself a little, and Mark leans back in his chair. The fingers of Eduardo's hand flex a little, and they are almost brushing Mark's collar.

Sean's vision whites out.

Oh.

So that's.

Okay.

It- Everything makes a little more sense, now, Sean supposes.

Eduardo has-

Wow.

That's-

All right.

It's- Sean didn't expect him to wait- fucking, four years or anything, but this-

This.

Sean's sitting right here.

He can fucking see them.

And if Sean had- even if he had moved on, he wouldn't take his new- fucking, whatever, to dinner with Eduardo and keep his arm around him, her, whoever, at the table and snuggle and fucking be a dick on purpose just because of- history, and being hurt, and fucking, _whatever,_ and Sean's breathing catches uncomfortably rough in his chest, and it hurts.

He pulls out his inhaler and takes two long puffs. "Shit," he mutters, coughing a little, slipping it back into the inside pocket of his jacket. He grips the side of the menu, and when he looks back up, Eduardo is watching him. When Sean catches his eye, he looks down.

If that's how Eduardo wants to be- then- fine, fuck, that's so _fine._

It's- Sean can play that game. They can both play that game.

If Eduardo is going to be- god, it stings, how _mean_ Eduardo is being, but whatever, Sean can be an asshole, too.

He got really good at it, at one point.

And he can just- draw on his experience, or whatever.

He still knows how to push Eduardo's worst buttons.

And so he focuses on Mark, who already thinks Sean is a golden fucking god, and he talks about his investments in Silicone Valley, and he plays it up and acts sophisticated, older and wiser and mature and talks about how he has a name for himself, and how businessmen are practically obsessed with him.

"I can't prove it, but I know they tap my phones," Sean says, squaring his shoulders and acting standoffishly enough that Eduardo narrows his eyes at him, a little disgusted.

"That's what happened to you?" Mark asks, enraptured, and Eduardo scoffs under his breath.

"Yes," Sean says simply, leaning back in his chair, stirring his espresso. "So, tell me about your progress with thefacebook." Eduardo opened his mouth to speak, but Sean angled his body towards Mark, cutting him off, boxing him out with his shoulders. Eduardo shakes his head and gives up, letting Mark talk his way through it, and then, after Sean's been pretending to give a shit about Mark's strategies for taking over schools, Eduardo leans in with a smirk, commanding Sean's attention.

"Hey," he says, "Settle an argument for me. I say it's time to start making money for thefacebook, but Mark doesn't want to advertise. Who's right?" he asks, annoyed, and Sean chews the question over in his head for a moment, thinking about Eduardo's left-brained approach and all the arguments Mark probably used on him, thinks about what words will best get under Eduardo's skin.

"Neither of you, yet. Thefacebook is cool, that's what it's got going for it," he says, and Mark is nodding rapidly across the table, and Sean grins inwardly, on the right track. "Ads aren't cool, and you don't want to ruin it. It's like you're throwing the greatest party on campus and someone's saying it's gotta be over by eleven," he finishes, and Mark nods again.

"That's exactly right," he says, and Eduardo looks, very seriously, as though he's contemplating homicide. The three of them banter back and forth, for a little, Sean trying to play to Mark's hand, and tensions are visibly rising at the table as the dinner winds down, the line of Eduardo's shoulders tense and his jaw clenched tight.

Sean fully intends to pay the check and walk off with a win, and if he manages to drive a little bit of a wedge between Mark and Eduardo, then good. Eduardo is- seriously, Sean can't believe- it's just shitty, and Sean sucks his bottom lip into his mouth when he puts on his glasses and signs off on the check.

"I'll be in touch," he says, nodding at Mark and pushing away from the table. He walks out of the restaurant and into the lobby. He has the doorman call him a cab, and scrolls through his phone while he's waiting. His glasses are still perched on the edge of his nose, but Sean can hear quick footsteps on the tile, and when he turns around, there's Eduardo, with his hands clenched into fists at his sides, shaking, and visibly angry.

"Forget something?" Sean asks, arching an eyebrow, and Eduardo just shakes his head shortly, glaring.

"What the fuck was that?" he demands in an angry hiss, and Sean crosses his arms over his chest.

"What?"

"That- in there! 3 years clean and sober, my fucking ass," Eduardo spits, "You're the same asshole you always were. You can't just- play with my emotions like that," Eduardo says, eyes going all crinkly and hurt like Sean has seen so many times before, "You- start out all nice and sweet and making me think you've changed, and then you- just fucking dismiss me, like you always-" he breaks off and runs a hand through his styled hair, messing it up, and Sean is a little taken aback. "And I had heard- the only reason why I agreed to come to this stupid thing was because I heard- well, fuck what I heard, now, obviously it's not true at all-"

And then Sean does fish out his sobriety chip, and thrusts it at Eduardo, who scowls down at it before running his thumb across the raised letters, eyes going soft. "It is true," Sean says petulantly, "Now you can go back to your boyfriend and tell him I'm a good guy."

"What-" Eduardo starts, still gazing down at the sobriety chip like he can't believe it, holding it tight like it could vanish at any moment- "Boyfriend? What the fuck are you talking about?" he demands, still trying to be mad.

"I saw you, Eduardo," Sean says, trying and failing miserably to keep the burning jealousy out of his voice. "I just can't believe you would act that way, with me sitting right there-" he breaks off, swallowing around the lump in his throat, and takes another puff from his inhaler with shaky hands.

"Stop," Eduardo says softly, reaching out to him, "You're gonna make yourself sick. Mark isn't my boyfriend."

"He's-" Sean's entire world feels like it's just stopped spinning on its axis. "What?"

"Oh my god," Eduardo says, laughing, "Seriously? You thought Mark and I-"

"Well, you were acting all-!" Sean starts, defensively, but really he's too pleased to make a case for himself, too relieved, and he is training his eyes and ears hungrily on Wardo's excited smile and beautiful laugh, when Mark comes into the lobby.

"Wardo," he says, tone a little wary, but Sean and Eduardo don't look away from each other.

"I called a cab," Sean says, "You can have it, Mark."

"Yeah," Eduardo says, nodding, still not looking away from Sean, the sobriety chip held tightly in his hand, "I'll meet you back at the hotel," and then Mark is gone, and they are alone again, and Eduardo laces their fingers and Sean feels warmth squeezing him all along his body, and they walk out of the lobby and start down the street. "I knew you weren't being for real, with that- Sean Parker variety hour, shit," Eduardo says, laughing and shaking his head, "Just looking at you, I could tell you changed- you looked so- you look good," he says softly, and Sean grins down at him, "You look different. You're different."

"I did it for you," Sean says, and it's a quiet little admission that makes Eduardo stop and draw up short, and he beams at Sean right there in the middle of the street and goes up on his toes to press his mouth softly to Sean's, and it's- it's everything, oh god, everything Sean remembers but so, so much better, and he is fucking trembling by the time Eduardo pulls away, and Sean can only stare at his soft, wet mouth for a few seconds before he sways into Eduardo's side, hands tight around his wrists, and says, "I have a hotel room." Eduardo pulls away to stick his hand out and hail a cab, and he grins wickedly at Sean before disappearing inside.

Sean follows him, grinning, and it almost makes him sick how easy it is to fall right back into what they'd had; except this time, Sean can feel it in his bones, with absolute certainty, it is going to work out. He is older, and more mature, and he has made his mistakes and learned from them, and Eduardo knows it, he can _see_ how much Sean has changed and they fucking love each other for it, and it is so- god, it is everything Sean could hope for and more in a second chance, and he knows he will not destroy it, this time. He feels so blessed to have it that it's insane, how unreal it all is, and he spends the entire cab ride back to his hotel trading sweet, brief kisses with Eduardo and dragging his thumb across the back of Eduardo's knuckles where their fingers are intertwined. He doesn't plan on letting go, not any time soon.

They stumble into the room smiling into each other's mouths, and Sean gropes blindly for the light switch, because if they are going to do this, he wants to see everything and commit it to memory for the rest of his life. They break apart to shrug off their jackets, and Eduardo ducks his head, lips curved into a smile and cheeks flushed as he unbuttons his shirt, shakes it off his shoulders and tosses it to the floor. He's obviously changed from the high school boyfriend Sean had, and he's still lean, but with more definition now; it's insanely sexy, and Sean takes a slow, deep breath to try to get himself under control.

He walks Eduardo backwards until his knees hit the bed, and Eduardo laughs a little when he falls onto his back, grabbing the open lapels of Sean's dress shirt and tugging him down on top of him. Sean spreads his legs and kneels up with his thighs bracketing Eduardo, balancing his weight over him, and he threads one hand into Eduardo's hair. Eduardo tugs at his shirt and says, "Mmmm, you look good," voice throaty. "This shirt is so fucking sexy on you."

Sean grins, sharp, and thinks about telling Eduardo how long he'd paced in front of his closet for, but decides against it in favor of sealing his mouth over the pulse point in Eduardo's neck and sucking kisses up under Eduardo's jaw and behind his ear and feeling the way Eduardo's body quakes beneath him; warm, familiar, and yet still _new._

"Jesus," Eduardo breathes, arching up under Sean so that their cocks brush through their pants, "I want- fuck, do you have a condom?" Sean bites his lip and thinks about rushing into things, but Eduardo's pupils are blown and his breathing is heavy and his mouth is so fucking swollen from kissing and Sean has _wanted,_ for so long, and he's waited for _four years_, and surely he's entitled to- deserving of this, just this once-

"Yeah," Sean says, swallowing, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet and tossing it on the bed, before he pushes himself up into a standing position and kicks his pants off. While they're twisted around his ankles Eduardo is taking out the condom and tearing it open with his teeth, and that is another too-sexy mental image that Sean files away to save in his mind's eye forever and ever.

Eduardo passes the condom over to Sean so he can get his own pants off, and Sean puts it aside for a moment in favor of kissing Eduardo again, soft and slow, because he cannot get enough of Eduardo's fucking mouth, does not ever want to stop kissing him now that he knows he can again, does not ever want to let him go.

They have sex, and it is slow, and careful, and they don't stop kissing for more than a couple seconds at a time. When they do break apart, Sean stares down into Eduardo's eyes, and he is so fucking pretty that it makes Sean lose his shit, it makes him fucking crazy.

"Fuck, missed this," Eduardo breathes out, staring at the ceiling with wide, dark eyes. "Haven't been- god, haven't been fucked in so long," he sighs, "not like this."

It makes Sean happier than he has any real reason to, but it's always something that he'd carried in his ego, knowing that he was good in bed, that even if Eduardo had moved on without looking back he would never find anyone who fucked him as well as Sean did.

When Sean comes it feels like he's letting out a breath he's been holding in for four years, and they don't do much talking after, the emotional highs and lows of the night tiring them both out, the sex incredibly draining as well. Sean gathers Eduardo into his arms and they both fall asleep right away, sticky and sweaty and pressed against each other from shoulder to calf, their legs entangled so that a casual observer would not be able to tell where one body ended and the other began.

In the morning, Sean orders room service and they feed it to each other in bed, smiling dopily and gazing lovingly at each other, kissing softly in between bites and spending the whole morning just lying in bed, cuddling and catching up, Sean tracing delicate patterns with his fingers all over Eduardo's skin, remapping him out, learning every square inch by touch.

Around noon, Eduardo sighs and starts squirming. "Mark and I take the train back tonight," he says quietly, and Sean tenses between him. He doesn't want Eduardo to go, obviously, but he has to- to finish school, Eduardo has classes and obligations and responsibilities and a whole other life that Sean wasn't a part of.

"I'm probably going to be moving to New York," Sean says, casually, and Eduardo spins around in the circle of Sean's arms to smile at him, in wonderment, blinking slowly.

"What?"

His face is so open, and so expressive, that Sean has to avert his eyes. "You know," he says, shrugging a little, "I have to be close by to help you guys with thefacebook," and then, his heart beating a mile a minute, "And to see you as often as possible."

"You- okay," Eduardo breathes out, looking honestly delighted. "Yeah, I can take the train in on weekends," he babbles, and Sean puts a hand under his chin to lick at the inside of his mouth because Eduardo is so fucking _precious,_ and Jesus. It's all so _good,_ what did Sean ever do to deserve something so good?

"I'll come visit," he mumbles into Eduardo's mouth, "We'll work it out."

It's not going to be easy, but it's something.

It's a start.

It's the beginning of a second chance.

**Epilogue.**

Sean's favorite thing, really, are surprise visits.

This is Eduardo's senior year, right, and he has a single this year. A single dorm! Sean has never seen something so glorious before, something that so desperately needs to be taken advantage of.

Eduardo gave Sean his spare key 'for emergencies,' fishing it out of his dresser drawer, (where he kept the condoms, and lube, and Sean's three-year sobriety chip) and Sean makes good use of that throughout the year. Surprise visits are great, he muses, if not only for the fact that he loves surprises and Eduardo hates them, but also because Sean gets to have fun with it.

He lets himself into Eduardo's room and stretches out on the bed at a time when he knows Eduardo's in class, and pulls out his phone with a smirk.

_I'm naked in your bed,_ he texts, thumbing over the buttons easily and stretching his body out, curling his toes.

The answer comes immediately. _I'm fifteen minutes into a two-hour lecture. _

And then, _Are you really naked?_

Sean grins, toeing off his shoes and kicking them to the floor, so it isn't a lie when he writes back _Partially ;)_

_Literally can't believe you just wink-emoticon'd me,_ Eduardo writes back, and Sean laughs out loud. It's followed up with _This is an important seminar._

_Then pay attention and stop texting me. I'm not going anywhere._

_You are *naked* in my *bed*,_ Eduardo sends, and Sean can practically feel the frustration, _Forgive me for being a little distracted._

_Say you're not feeling well,_ Sean suggests super-helpfully, sitting up and taking off his pants.

_You do know this is college, right?_ comes back, sarcastic enough to make Sean want to make Eduardo pay. He pulls up his shirt and snaps a picture of his stomach, flexing so his abs are defined, angling the camera low enough to capture the v of his hipbones, but not any of his junk; teasing. Eduardo's always had a weakness for Sean's abs and arm muscles, the same way Sean turns into a pile of goo when he sees Eduardo's ass in jeans or a bow-tie wrapped around his long, elegant neck. He sends it off to Eduardo with a smirk, and the reply takes awhile, but ten minutes later, Sean gets:

_I hate you._

Fifteen minutes later, Eduardo bursts through the door of his room, eyes narrowing immediately when he takes in Sean, sprawled across his bed, pants off and shirt rucked up, grinning and absolutely ridiculous. "I knew you weren't naked," Eduardo says, baring his teeth, in a tone that promises payback.

"I said partially," Sean says, trying not to laugh, "You have to read the fine print, Saverin."

"I'm going to fail all my exams," Eduardo says, shedding his clothing as he crosses the room. He jumps onto the bed and leans over Sean, brushing their mouths together between every word, "And it's going to be all. Your. Fault." He pouts a little, and Sean strains his neck up to bite at Eduardo's full bottom lip until he moans and slouches down on top of Sean, making a contented sigh and sticking his head in where it fits perfectly between Sean's neck and shoulder.

"You do remember I was planning on coming into the city this weekend, right?" Eduardo mumbles into Sean's neck, and he laughs, petting down Eduardo's back with one hand, the other resting on the curve of his ass.

"Couldn't wait," he murmurs back, nosing in for another kiss, "Wanted to see you now."

Eduardo huffs out an exasperated laugh, but he grinds his hips down and meets Sean's mouth with his own obligingly, angling his head so their tongues can slide together, and Sean moans into his mouth when Eduardo grabs Sean's wrists and raises them to the headboard, pressing in on the pulse points.

"Wardo," Sean pants, squirming a little under his (surprisingly strong) grip. "What-?"

"You made me leave my lecture early, Sean," Eduardo says with dark eyes and a sharp grin. He leans down and whispers in Sean's ear, "I've gotta make you pay for that."

Sean can feel his eyes roll back in his head, and when his vision returns to him, he sees Eduardo's tied his hands to the headboard with one of his ties. It's silk, so it's not too uncomfortable, but no matter how Sean twists, he can't get out of it. He swallows hard, and looks up at Eduardo, a little bit of nervousness edging his gaze.

"I missed you," Eduardo says against Sean's cheek, "But you've got to learn some patience." He kisses Sean's cheek, and then his collarbone, and his lips slide, sticky, once across his jaw before he slides off of the bed and slips his pants back on. He grabs a book off his desk and says, "I'm going back to my lecture, now."

"What!" Sean yelps, starting to panic. Eduardo wouldn't- he can't just _do_ that, Sean is pretty sure-

"I'll see you in an hour, baby," Eduardo purrs, sashaying out the door without a backwards glance.

Sean waits, for a beat, and then two. After a long moment he calls out, "Wardo?" voice wavering, but he gets no answer. "Fuck!" he bites out, flexing his fingers. They feel numb, and he's hard enough that it's annoying, and he spends his hour chewing the inside of his cheek and thinking about all the ways he's going to get Eduardo back for this, damnit.


End file.
